The New Age
by Crelrn
Summary: Year 96, CE. A generation after the Second Bloody Vallentine War, a new faction sprouts up and a war between it, the PLANTS and the Earth Alliance ensues. However, without the help of the Clyne Faction, this war might never end. OCxOC. R&R please.
1. Prologue

_AN: _Hey everybody! This is my first fan-fic, so don't bash on me too hard XD. I actually wrote this story like three years ago, but never finished it. So I decided to go back and revise my story...Umm...that's pretty much it. Oh! And it's rated Teen for mild violence and language.

One last thing! The prologue is written in italics, so if you see normal font within this story that means it would've been in italics if the whole story was in normal font.

So please R&R! Thanks - Crelrn

_Disclaimer: I do __not__ own Gundam Seed, Sunrise, Bandai, or any of its affiliates. I have ownership only over my own original characters, factions, mobile suits and amendments to the story line._

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  **THE NEW AGE**

Prologue: The Moon and the Sun

_13:41, February 18, 96 CE, ZAFT Armory, Februas 3, Brigade armory and briefing room._

"_Alert." blasted the intercom. "Level One battle stations. Hostile forces located just outside of boundaries. All ZAFT forces, report to battle stations. All hands, prepare to defend borders. I repeat, Level One battle stations. Hostile forces located just outside of boundaries. All ZAFT forces, report to battle stations. All hands, prepare to defend borders. I repeat…"_

"_Dammit!" complained an annoyed raven haired boy. "We didn't even have time to eat yet."_

"_Stop being so dramatic, Shojin." replied a blonde and equally pissed off boy getting out of his red uniform, quickly slipping into a black pilot suit. "It's our own fault for joining the Brigade."_

"_Joined? The last time I checked, we were drafted!" exclaimed Shojin, stepping out of his white uniform and into his own jet-black suit. "And stop giving me lip. I am in charge of this squad."_

"_That might be right, but that doesn't give you an excuse to treat your subordinates with such blatant disrespect." barked a middle-aged officer that had just entered the room_

"_Gaahh! Rear Admiral Williams! Sir, I'm sorry, I didn't see you!" hastily replied Shojin. Everyone else in the room quickly stood at attention._

_Rear Admiral Williams returned the gesture. "At ease." Everyone's postures relaxed. "Alright, everyone get dressed, double time. Debriefing will take place in four minutes."_

_Four minutes later, they were all in the briefing room adjacent to the armory that they had previously been in. "Alright." began Williams. "At 13:14, now 27 minutes ago, a recon team spotted several NARN vessels camped right outside our sensor range. Now we're not sure exactly what they're doing there, but if they didn't inform us beforehand we can safely assume that they're not here on friendly terms." The squad's expressions hardened at this comment._

"_Now, you men, as Brigade members, are an attack force, so this probably isn't an ideal situation for you. Your mobile suits aren't suitable for this kind of job. Speaking of which, is anyone's mobile suit out of commission?"_

"_My Cancer suit is in maintenance, sir." Stated the blonde from earlier._

"_What's your name, son?" asked the Rear Admiral._

"_Ensign Reign, sir."_

"_Anyone else here, beside Ensign Reign?" The Rear Admiral looked around. "Nobody? Good. How many are in this squad, Commander Himura?"_

"_Including Private Reign and myself, ninteen, sir." replied Shojin._

"_Good. Divide them into fire-squads of four. But leave out Lieutenant Kiba."_

"_Permission to ask why, Admiral?" asked Kiba._

"_That's classified information, Commander. I'll tell you in good time. Now split up the remainder of your squad."_

"_Yes sir." Then he turned and faced the Brigade. "After I divide you up, head to your suits and remain on standby. Private Reign, you'll be sitting out of this one."_

_Saluting, he responded, "Yes, sir." Walking out of the room, Shojin could hear him muttering "Great, right after I get suited up, too."_

_After the rest were grouped, they hurried to their mobile suits._

_After the door closed behind them, the Rear Admiral said, "Follow me. I'll fill you in as we go." And he walked out through the other door, with Kiba and Shojin following._

_Chancing to break the silence of their walk, Kiba asked, "Sir, where exactly are we going?"_

"_I'm sorry, but I can't tell you till we get there, It's classified and we can't talk about it in these corridors." replied Williams._

"_I'm sorry, Sir."_

"_Don't worry. We'll get there soon enough."_

_After five minutes, they ended up at a large, grey, metal door. Rear Admiral Williams entered a complicated series of numbers on a nearby keypad, and the door opened. "Get in." He ordered. They walked uneasily inside, and the door shut with speed. They were on a balcony in a room that was pretty wide, and very, very dark; they couldn't even tell where the back wall was._

_The Rear Admiral hit a switch on the railing and a bright, fluorescent light flashed on. It pierced the darkness, but not entirely, though a series of more lights flashed on until the room was entirely lit._

_What the darkness had originally shrouded now stunned them with awe. A gleaming gold mobile suit shined in the light with renounced glory, while next to it stood what seemed to be the complete opposite: a blackish pale-blue mobile suit that seemed to swallow up the light around it._

"_Gentlemen," began the Rear Admiral, "Behold the fruits of our years of labor, and the reason for the formation of the Brigade squadron: The XKN-901 Helios and the XKN-902 Luna."_

" _The Helios… and…Luna?" asked a puzzled Kiba._

"_These are the first in a new age of mobile suits." Said Rear Admiral Williams proudly. "These are only prototypes, though we'll eventually mass produce variations of them."_

"_But what do these have to do with us?" inquired Shojin._

"_Isn't it obvious?" Questioned Williams. "You will pilot them."_

"_But why us, Sir?" asked Kiba._

"_You and your brother have some of the highest rates of service in all of the Corps. That's why you were promoted to the Brigade. In addition, your personal piloting styles are almost perfect for these mobile suits."_

"_So these are prototype mobile suits?" asked Kiba._

"_Err…Not entirely…" said the Rear Admiral. "They're finished, but we've gotten as much data as we can with computers and tools. We just need some actual combat data for them."_

"_And that's where we come in?" asked a grinning Kiba._

_Williams returned the grin. "Correct. These mobile suits are made to attack, not defend. So instead of waiting for them to make a move, you two will take the strike to them, give yourselves an advantage."_

"_So that's our mission." Said Shojin. "Good. I was getting nervous that we would be stuck here on the defensive."_

"_And we will be piloting these suits?" asked Kiba once again._

"_Of course." said the Rear Admiral. "That's what I just finished explaining."_

"_Well, who gets which mobile suit?" asked Shojin._

_Williams sighed. "Again with the questions. Kiba, you get the Helios, and Shojin, you get the Luna. Like I said before, they are both the best fit for your piloting styles."_

"_Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Thanked the brothers simultaneously while saluting._

"_Now Kiba," began the Rear Admiral, handing him a pile of papers. "The Helios is a long-range mobile suit. It has heavy firepower and artillery, almost more than our Larissa class destroyers. In addition, it has Geizer Pansen refractor, as well as the heavily improved Phase Shift Armor."_

"_It has a solar battery, which you can use for an almost unlimited amount of time as long as there is sunlight. There is also a backup one incase there isn't any sunlight. You can read the rest in its manual and its database."_

"_And Shojin," once again began Williams, also handing him a stack of papers. "The Luna is quite the opposite. Like the Helios, it has a VPSA system on it, but we installed an MCS inside on it. The VPSA system will be disabled while this is active."_

"_MCS?" questioned Shojin._

"_Perhaps you've heard of 'Mirage Colloid'?" Williams inquired with an eyebrow raised._

"_Mirage Colloid? But that's outlawed now!" exclaimed Shojin._

"_It's treaty is nothing more than a verbal agreement!" argued the Rear Admiral. "All sides have used it, and the Earth Alliance even equipped some of their battleships with it!"_

"_I'm sorry, Sir." Apologized Shojin._

"_Now continuing where you so rudely interrupted me, the MCS allows it to slip by both optical and radar awareness. This makes it perfect for espionage, reconnaissance and ambush. In addition, it is equipped with a DRAGOON system that is also equipped with an MCS. There are two DRAGOON systems that are compatible with the Luna, but today you will use the "SHROUD" System, which fires regenerating concussive beams. The reason I gave you the Luna and not your brother is because you are the only one who is capable of using a DRAGOON system." Finished Williams._

"_Why is that?" inquired Shojin._

"_You were rated higher on the Spatial Awareness test of the sta-."_

_Before he was finished, he was interrupted yet again; this time by the wall monitor which flashed on as a black uniformed officer appeared on screen. Behind him was the familiar scene of a Gondwana class carrier getting ready for battle. "Rear Admiral Williams, Captain Hill of the _Heron_ would like to inform you that our initial recon team was destroyed by the NARN battleships almost immediately when they entered their range."_

_The Admiral's eyebrow raised. "Really? Is that all, son?"_

"_Yes, sir."_

_Although he tried to remain featureless, Kiba noticed a hint of a grin appearing on the middle-aged Admiral's creased face. "Tell Captain Hill to remain back on standby with the _Heron_ and to tell all of the other ships to follow suit. We're sending a squadron to take care of it momentarily."_

"_Yes, sir. Very well, sir." as the monitor flashed back off._

_Williams turned back to face the two brothers. "I believe you two heard me just now. Hurry up! Get into your mobile suits on the double!"_

_The brothers simultaneously saluted to their superior. "Yes, sir!"_

_

* * *

_

"_Mobile suits destroyed." said a white coated deck hand of a Longinus class N.A.R.N. destroyer. "Enemy ships have responded by moving closer to the P.L.A.."_

"_All right." Said the black suited Captain of said vessel. "Prepare to launch the Finns. Make sure the package is secure before launching. Tell the other two ships to follow suit."_

"_Yes Sir!" said the now focused ensign, now busy rapidly typing commands into his console._

"_Lieutenant Green!" said the Captain._

"_Sir?" asked the deck lieutenant._

"_Have someone man the Halberd cannon. Have the " Ordered the captain._

"_Yes, Sir!" replied the officer._

_The Captain sighed. _Now let's see if all of this was for nothing.

* * *

"_Kiba, are you ready?" asked his anxious brother over the radio in his new mobile suit._

"_You know I am!" exclaimed the enthusiastic brother._

"_Alright." Crackled a new voice over the comm. frequency. "You know what to do: hit'em hard and hit'em fast. Remember, this isn't a drill."_

"_Yeah, we know that already." Said Shojin._

"_Alright Shojin, wait from the light." Responded the voice over the comm._

_Two red lights flashed off, then a green light that said LAUNCH on it. "Shojin Himura, Luna, launching!" He slammed down on the thruster, and the Luna catapulted into the darkness of space._

_In the adjacent launch pad, another set of two red lights and a green light signaled Kiba's turn to launch. "Kiba Himura, Helios, let's go!" As he blasted out of the pad, his grey mobile suit turned golden, signaling his activation of its Phase Shift armor system. He turned to see the large figure of the _Heron_ next to Februas 3. _Jeez, it's a lot bigger than I thought,_ thought Kiba._

"_Kiba, this is what we're going to do." Said Shojin over the comm. "You use suppression fire to get their attention, while I activate my Mirage Colloid and flank them. Pretty simple, but I believe it will get the job done. Sound okay to you?"_

"_Roger, Bro." said a grinning Kiba._

"_On the field you'll call me Commander. Got that?" sarcastically joked Shojin. His black mobile suit's arms disappeared, and the rest of its body followed suit, fading into the emptiness of space._

_In Kiba's vision, he saw the small objects that were the NARN's space vessels grow larger. Stopping, the Helios grabbed its "SOLAR" Beam Rifle from its hip and its linear rail cannon from its back. Kiba aimed both at the vessels, and a screen flipped down from the inside of his cockpit. A message ran across the bottom of the screen stating, "WEAPONS ARMED AND LOCKED ON." A grin ran across his mouth as the tips of his weapons glowed, then discharged two golden beams of energy._

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_

"_Captain, incoming projectiles from port!" yelled a navigations officer on a Parabola class NARN carrier._

"_Evade! Hard to port!" shouted the captain._

_Thrusters ignited and the ship shot portwise. One beam of golden light flashed by, but another impacted on the starboard side, shaking the ship._

"_Damage report." Ordered the captain._

"_Minimal damage, but the starboard thrusters wont be working."_

"_Damn! Disperse anti-beam depth charges! Discharge all mobile suits while firing Icebrand missiles at target."_

"_Yes, sir!" responded the crew of the carrier._

"_Where did those shots come from?"_

"_Sir, they came from an unidentified mobile suit coming from the PLANTs." answered a crewman manning the radar console._

So ZAFT's testing their prototype weapons, too? _Thought the Captain to himself._

_

* * *

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"_Dang. I missed." chuckled Kiba to himself. He activated his comm. frequency to his brother. "Shojin, are you in position? They're coming after me."_

"_Almost. Don't contact me. They might pick up our frequencies." Responded his brother._

_Kiba sighed; he didn't particularly like it when his brother got into his Zen no-thought state of mind. He then typed in a few adjustments to his weapons calibrations, and activated his main thrusters, heading towards the enemies._

_Will he ever shut up? Shojin asked himself. He had a good angle at the NARN's RMS-1X1A "Finn" mobile suits, the mainstay of their forces. Finns are lightly armored and have minimal weaponry (one or two beam rifles, a beam-saber and a shield), though they are very fast and highly mobile._

"_Let's see how this works." Said Shojin, as he launched his SHROUD system into space. A console popped up showing the location of all eight of the units in the system. He keyed in all of the coordinates and routes of the Finns lightning fast. Right about… now! He thought in his head. He pulled the triggers and fired. He was rewarded with eight green explosions, then four orange ones._

_Over the channels he heard several, "What the-?" and, "Where the hell did that come from!?" In order to silence the 16 remaining stammering suits, he used his LUNAR automatic beam rifle in conjunction with his DRAGOON system to quickly and efficiently destroy most of them, but there were still seven remaining._

_From Kiba's mobile suit, 10 missiles struck forth, leaving trails of vapor behind in the vacuum of space. Some hit mobile suits, destroying four of them, some were destroyed in mid flight, and the rest hit the two Parabola carriers, destroying the already damaged one and injuring the other._

_After finishing off the rest of the suits with the Luna's ultra-negative beam sabers, Shojin retracted back his SHROUD units and quickly got out of the way, for in his peripheral vision, he saw energy charging in front of his brother's unit, meaning he was about to use his SUN Beam to take out the destroyer. A brilliant gold flash later, an immense golden beam jetted out to the destroyer. A few seconds later, there was a huge hole where the weapons bay was supposed to be, and the Longinus Destroyer erupted into flames._

"_Damn!" exclaimed Shojin to his brother. "Ever heard of moderation?"_

"_Well it worked, didn't it?" asked a smirking Kiba._

"_Well, yeah. But wasn't that overdoing it, just a smudge?"_

"_Hell yeah!" said the younger brother._

"_Well I'm just glad that it's over." Said Shojin. "Let's head back"_

"_Yeah, my radar just declared that it's all clear." Said Kiba._

"_Alright." Responded the older brother. "Let's go."_

_"I'll race ya." grinned Kiba._

_Shojin returned the grin. "Fine, but you'll lose."_

_Kiba laughed. "Yeah right. You're o-." he started to say, but was cut off short as in front of them a huge, blue explosion engulfed the _Heron_ and its support ships._

"_What the hell?!" exclaimed Shojin as the light disappeared, leaving behind nothing. "Wh-what the hell _was_ that?"_

_Breathing heavily, Kiba answered, "I...I...D-Don't...Know..."_

_Shojin's face grew very dark and murdurous. "We must have neglected to eliminate all of them and let some slip by us." he let out sadly._

_"Dammit!!!" shouted Kiba, who slammed his fists on the control panel of the Helios._

_"Kiba, we've got to go back and reinforce our defenses. We've got to make sure we eliminate every one this time. For ZAFT!" ordered Shojin._

_"For ZAFT!" yelled Kiba. The thrusters on the backs of their mobile suits ignited as they launched themselves towards the molten slag that was the flagship of the 1st ZAFT Fleet._

_...End Phase._

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AN:_ Okey dokey, that's the prologue of the story. First chapter'll be out in a little bit. The characters "Shojin" and "Kiba" aren't the main characters of this story, instead they'll be getting stuck on the sidelines in the role of (drumroll)...SUPPORTING CHARACTERS!!! Oh noes!

The story will shift to the perspective of a young pilot from the NARN, roughly a month after the events in the preceding prologue.

But PLEEEASE R&R this story! The story will only get better if you help!


	2. Phase One

Update! Umm...the story shifts from the perspective of Shojin/Kiba to the view point of the protagonist, name mentioned in story vv

This story will be organized into two parts and multiple phases, FYI

Sorry, I didn't really explain much about the backstory in the prologue. But in this phase it explains what happened between the Second Bloody Valentine War and this story right off the bat...

Anyways, enjoy! And don't forget to R&R.

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Part One: Doubt

_Phase One: Recon_

_Cosmic Era, year 96. On March 10, 87 C.E., the signing of the Treaty of Junius VII's 15th anniversary, the Kingdom of Scandinavia and several small countries seceded from the Earth Alliance and joined with rebel forces in an effort to keep peace between the genetically enhanced Coordinators and the original, human Naturals. On the 27__th__ of that same month, the rebels launched into space via the Kingdom of Scandinavia's mass driver and allied with ZAFT forces rebels. Therein, they dubbed themselves the Neutral Alliance of Reformed Nations (NARN) and disappeared._

_In four years, September 3, 91 CE, photographs from a reconnaissance ZAFT mobile suit showed that the NARN transformed the abandoned space colony of Mendel into a space fortress, along with several colonies to go with it, all hidden with Mirage Colloid systems. In the years to follow, the NARN was recognized as a major power, and a threat to others._

_On January 1st, 95 C.E., forces from the Shackleton Earth Alliance moon base declared war against them with a staged attack of civilian shuttles as the ante-bellum and launched an assault at their Kyogre', Lupin, and Melgrey bases. The battle was quickly over, with the NARN as the victor. Confused as to why they attacked them for no blatant reason, the NARN sent envoys to the Shackleton crater, trying to explain themselves. The envoys never returned._

_Because of these incidents, the NARN investigated on this matter and declared that the PLANTs had orchestrated these events. The NARN declared war against them and sent a small fleet against them to test their battle strength and to experiment their new weapons. With this assault, the Triad War had begun._

15:34, March 2, 96 CE, Debris Belt

The blackness of space washed past Black Ops. Division Two operative Tsukasa in his RMS-1X1A Finn mobile suit. He was following a distress beacon that he had picked up from his routine reconnaissance run. He was keeping an eye on his power gauge; it was already halfway depleted and kept the other on his image displays; he was in the Debris Belt and didn't want to run into any loose junk. The Debris Belt also wasn't in NARN controlled space, and he was risking his ass to go in without calling in first. _Oh well,_ he thought. _Guess I'll start to head back._

He saw a spark in his peripheral vision, and he turned to it while raising his anti-beam shield. Just in time to, for a beam disrupted into separated particles against his shield. He saw that he was fired at by four of ZAFT's ZGMF-X86A "Cancer" mobile suits.

At this point, the Cancer had replaced the Zakus and Goufs that had previously made up the mainstay of ZAFT's forces. The Cancer is a very odd-looking mobile suit, most closely resembling ZAFT's amphibious UMF/SSO-3 "ASH". It was, in Tsukasa's opinion, closer to a mobile armor than a mobile suit. They have a pair of claws with beam cannons in them, an extendable torso that can crush mobile suits, and able to transform into a more compact, faster size on land.

"Damn it, not now." sighed Tsukasa. He raised his beam rifles and rolled to his left, firing once with each gun, both shots colliding with pinpoint accuracy into mobile suit cockpits.

The two remaining ones charged at him with their beam claws. He discarded his beam rifles and pulled out his "Vishnu" beam saber and met the charge. He collided into the nearest one with his shield, following it up to an upward slash to its cockpit. He spun around, blocked the last unit's claw with his forearm and backhand stabbed the charging mobile suit, erupting it into flame.

Satisfied, he checked his radar, disengaged his beam saber, and retrieved his beam rifles. He saw that he was right on top of the signal that led him out to this place. He looked around and saw a damaged Finn mobile suit. He guessed that the Cancer mobile suits had followed the beacon just as he had and ended up here.

Making sure that his helmet was secured, he got close to the damaged Finn and opened his cockpit. He had thrusters on his pilot suit, so there was no fear that he would get lost in space, though it never hurt to be cautious. He pushed himself over to the Finn, flying through the soundless void of space. He reached out and grabbed onto the cockpit's manual open lever and pulled it.

Inside the cockpit was a pilot with a black pilot suit and a helmet with a polarized visor worn only by the Division One Black Ops. team. Tsukasa quickly saluted, and then motioned back over to his mobile suit, for sound doesn't travel in space and Tsukasa didn't know what frequency he was on. The pilot nodded and gathered his personal items. The pilot grabbed onto Tsukasa's arm and gave the thumbs up sign, meaning that he was good to go. Tsukasa nodded and jumped over to his own mobile suit.

Once they were inside the cramped space, Tsukasa closed the door waited for it to decompress the cockpit and fill it with oxygen before he took off his helmet. He brushed a lock of his dark brown hair out of his way and saluted while the other pilot was taking off his while saying "Sir, I'm Black Ops. operative Tsu-." he quickly stopped, for after the pilot took off their helmet and the waterfall of black hair he realized that the pilot was a girl, whom was smiling. "Uh, uh, Ma'am, I'm sorry. I, uh, didn't expect you to be a girl." said an flustered Tsukasa.

"It's alright." said the pilot, eyes twinkling in amusement. "Go on. Introduce yourself."

"Ma'am, I'm Black Ops. Section Two operative Tsukasa. I picked up your distress beacon on a recon check."

"It's nice to meet you Tsukasa. I'd like to thank you, but I haven't introduced myself yet." Saluting, she said, "I'm Black Ops. Section One operative Ano Katsuragi. I also was on a recon run. I saw an enemy Cancer unit and followed it here, where I neutralized it, but it hit me with an ion beam, so I'm stuck here."

"That would explain the four Cancer units that were out here." explained Tsukasa.

Ano raised her eyebrows. "_Four_ Cancer units?" questioned Ano. "Just to get _one_ mobile suit? That seems kind of farfetched."

"Yes ma'am. I luckily destroyed them before they got anywhere near your mobile suit."

"You destroyed them all by yourself?" exclaimed Ano.

"Yes ma'am. I destroyed them without expending much power, as we're fairly far away from home." said Tsukasa

"Well, that's Black Ops. for you." sighed Ano. "Anyways, I need to ride with you. My armor's in no condition to journey back. I'll just leave it here for now."

"Yes ma'am." said Tsukasa

"Thanks. But you don't have to call me ma'am. I may be your superior, but not by much."

"All right, Katsuragi-san. So, welcome aboard. Might want to strap in. It's not going to be a cruise."

Ano smiled. "'Kay."

Thirty-five minutes later, they were in N.A.R.N. controlled space. Three streaks of pale blue confirmed that a trio of Freya mobile armors were there to greet them. "Tsukasa-taichou!" exclaimed the obvious leader of the three. "Where have you been?"

"I followed a distress beacon to the debris belt. I'm sorry for not reporting it; I didn't have much time to. I retrieved Black Ops. Section One operative Ano Katsuragi from her damaged mobile suit after destroying a squad of hostile ZAFT units." explained Tsukasa.

"Katsuragi-sama! Your father has been very worried." said the squad leader."

"Can you tell him I'm safe, please?" asked Ano.

"Yes ma'am!" replied the squad leader. The mobile armors turn tailed and headed back to Melgrey Gate Base.

Ano turned to face"Tsukasa-kun, will you accompany me to my house?" asked Ano. "I'd like my father to meet you."

"Uh, sure, Katsuragi-san." uneasily replied Tsukasa. _That'll be kind of awkward._

_

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_

After landing on Melgrey Gate Base and writing his report, Tsukasa and Ano took a private shuttle to Reverben colony, the political central of N.A.R.N. It was eerily and awkwardly quiet on the shuttle.

"You live on Reverben?" asked Tsukasa, breaking the silence.

"Yeah." said Ano. "Um… So where do you live Tsukasa?" trying to get a conversation going.

"I live on Reverben also." replied Tsukasa

"Got any siblings?" asked Ano.

"Actually, I don't really know." At Ano's look of confusion Tsukasa elaborated. "You see, I don't, er, have a family. I was found as refugee by the Kingdom of Scandanavia, when I was really young. The NARN took me in and I was brought up by the military, heavily trained. I don't know if they're even alive anymore."

A tone of sadness ran through her voice as Ano said, "I'm so sorry. It must be tough."

Tsukasa looked up and smiled at her. "Thanks. But you're not the one who did it."

Ano returned the smile. "It's still okay to feel pity, though. Right?"

* * *

When they arrived at Ano's house, Tsukasa gawked at it. It was huge! Not surprising whose house it was. Tsukasa looked at Ano and said, "Ano Katsuragi! I see now. As in Vice Minister Katsuragi's daughter."

"Yup." said Ano. "Come on. Let's go inside."

When they were inside, Vice Minister Katsuragi's face lit up as he saw her daughter. "Ano!" he exclaimed happily as he rushed to embrace her.

"It's nice to see you again, Father." said Ano.

"What happened?" the higher-up asked his daughter.

"I was on a recon run when I saw a ZAFT Cancer unit. I rushed to attack it and got hit in the thruster by its armor penatrators, disabling my mobile suit." responded Ano shamefully.

The Vice Minister turned and faced Tsukasa. "Are you the young man who brought home my daughter?" he asked.

Tsukasa stood in a salute and said, "Yes, sir, Katsuragi-sama."

Unexpectedly, the Vice Minister held out his hand. Tsukasa tentatively shook it.

"What's your name, son?" asked the Vice Minister.

"Sir! I am from Black Ops. Division Two. My name is Tsukasa."

The Vice Minister's face lit with understanding. "Oh. I've heard about you. Section Two you say? I don't know why _you're_ not in Section One, with Ano here. I'll tell you what; I'll pull some strings and have you promoted to Section One Black Ops."

Tsukasa's eyes widened, then returned to their normal state. He bowed deeply. "Thank you very much, Katsuragi-sama."

The Vice Minister laughed and said, "No, thank you. It's the least I can give you for saving my daughter. Did you go to great lengths to save her, or damage your mobile suit?"

Ano spoke up and exclaimed, "Father, he had to destroy four of ZAFT's Cancer units."

This time the Vice Minister's eyes widened. "_Four_ Cancer units?" he whispered. "Just with your Finn mobile suit? Would you still have a recording from your display?" he asked.

"Yes sir." replied Tsukasa, reaching into his bag. "I even have a copy with me, which I was going to deliver to my Captain."

"May I see it?" asked an eager Vice Minister.

"Yes sir." replied Tsukasa as he handed him a disk. The Vice Minister took the data-disk and inserted it into a nearby console. A screen from the ceiling dropped down and flashed on. On it showed Tsukasa's previous fight. Fifteen seconds later the display turned black once more.

The Vice Minister and his daughter stood there slack-jawed. "That… You… I…" the Vice Minister stammered. He slowly regained his composure and said to Tsukasa, "You don't need to deliver this to your Captain. I'll do it for you. I need to talk to him about something. I need to go now Tsukasa. Take care." And with that he grabbed his coat and left.

Tsukasa and Ano were left standing there alone; again the awkward silence. Finally, Ano spoke up and asked, "So… do you want something to eat, or…"

Tsukasa smiled. "Thank you, but I've got some leftover tonkatsu at my house."

Rushing, Ano said, "No, please, I insist! Besides, I'm always alone and could use the company."

Tsukasa raised his eyebrows and inquired, "Alone? A girl like you? That seems unlikely. Don't you have like a boyfriend, or something?"

Ano blushed at this statement and mumbled, "No, my dad wont let me really be with anyone, cause I'm like, you know, a daughter of a politician. He wont even really let me have any friends." She began to frown.

Tsukasa took a chance and said, "Starting right now for dinner, I'll be your friend."

Ano looked at him for a second with a bright face then started to laugh. "That sounded pretty childish Tsukasa-kun. But anyways, thanks."

Now Tsukasa was blushing and mumbled, "No problem."

Ano was smiling now, and said, "Come on, I know a really great diner a tran-stop away." as she walked through the door.

Tsukasa caught up with her and closed the door behind them. "Café Kwan?" asked Tsukasa.

"Yeah. Have you been there before?" Ano asked.

"Well, a couple times, but-" He was cut off by the sound of the boarding signal for the trans. "Come on!" he said as he started to sprint. Ano sighed and also ran for the tran.

When they arrived at the café, they were greeted by a teenage overly enthusiastic waiter, who virtually threw them into their seats, shoved a menu into each of their faces, and lit a candle; all in five seconds flat. "Hello! Welcome to the Café Kwan! Our specials today are…" He then said a long continuous stream of incomprehensible words so fast that it almost made Tsukasa want to duck for cover from enemy fire. "So, what can I get for you lovely couple?" He stood there with a very enthusiastic expression on his face, alternating his gaze from Tsukasa's to Ano's faces.

Ano was at a loss for words for a couple of seconds, then said, "Um… this isn't a date."

Slowly the waiter's expression broke down. All of a sudden, the waiter burst into tears, which somehow put out the candle that he had lit. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to offend you! Oh, I'm a total failure." A little freaked out, Tsukasa was about to reach out to comfort him, but he immediately put on a smile and said, "Sorry for breaking down like that. Dinner's now complimentary! Please, take your time!"

And with that he trounced over to the next unlucky group to meet him. (It was apparently his first day. He was fired and arrested for "assaulting" the Prime Minister a few hours later).

Tsukasa and Ano stared at each other, then broke out into laughter. After they almost suffocated from lack of oxygen, they talked most of the time and had a great meal. After the meal, they walked back to her house instead of taking the tran. The entire way they didn't speak at all, though they both wanted to talk some more, but neither one knew that the other wanted to talk with them. Tsukasa dropped her off and said he'd see her tomorrow for duty at Melgrey Gate. They both said good night, and Tsukasa took the tran back over to his house in the Laurentia District.

* * *

Back inside her house, Ano was happily humming to herself while typing on her computer the events of the past few days. She heard a knock on her door and her father's voice, "Ano, dear, can I come in?"

"Yes Father." she replied. Her dad walked in and asked her, "So how was it?"

"Oh, it was great Father! Me and Tsukasa just had dinner over at Kwan's."

"Oh, yes, Tsukasa." said the Vice Minister. "Ano, there's something you should know about that boy."

"What's that, Father?" asked Ano confused.

"I'll tell you Ano, but only if you promise not to tell him."

"All right Father, I promise. So what is it?"

She didn't fall asleep that night.

..._End Phase._

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Okay, first phase done :D

Okay! Next phase is when Tsukasa will receive his super-special-awesome promotion...and other stuff...

Anyways, hope you enjoyed it and I really need more reviews.....

R&R please!

Next phase will be out sometime next week!


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